Okay, this one came up in a discussion today. Would anyone care
to speculate as to why trans-splicing of mRNAs have such a wierd
wierd phylogenetic distribution. As far as I know, the only proven
cases are in Trypanosome, C.elegans, and the chloroplast of Chlamydomonas.
It probably also occurs in Euglena. In Trypanosomes and C.elegans, trans
splicing appears to be widespread and it may also be common in Euglena, so
why is it seemingly present in only these lineages?
Keith Robison
Harvard University
Program in Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology
robison at ribo.harvard.edu